Jem serial number question..

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Author Message   Smakutus Username: Smakutus Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 8:07 am:    I listed this yellow Jem on Ebay a couple of days ago: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7392567532&rd=1&sspagename=ST RK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1 I've had quite a few guys asking for the full serial number which I'm not really into letting out there. The number starts with a 90xxxx so it's a 90 right? What else would a buyer need to know about the serial number? I ask them why they need it but I'm not getting a reply. Thanks, Jeff   Brentm Username: Brentm Registered: 03-2005 Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 10:07 am:    There should be an F preceeding that set of numbers. To be brutally honest, you should be able to comfortably disclose the serial number. In the few guitars I've sold, I've always put a picture of the guitar's serial number in the auction, but not included it in to listing text (to be searched against). I guess I did this because I didn't know the history of the guitar. I bought it from a reputable source, but there's no 'carfax' for guitars really.   Smakutus Username: Smakutus Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 4:57 pm:    There's no F on it anywhere. There's the Jem logo, the serial number 90xxxx under that, and then Made in Japan under the number. Jeff   Mrblanche Username: Mrblanche Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 6:11 pm:    One problem is that there have been a lot of these guitars that are fakes on e-bay, and certain serial numbers get repeated all the time. I don't see that giving out the full number would hurt anything...after all, it's not like having the full VIN of a car and using it to "steal" a registration.   Smakutus Username: Smakutus Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 6:15 pm:    Have you looked at my guitar? I've seen the China made fakes on Ebay and this isn't one of them. The jemsite says this about the back plate serial numbers like mine: "The Old heel plates, while obtrusive compared to the All-Access-Neck, were too cool. The original JEMs had JEM in script with the 6 digit serial number. The serial number is useless and untraceable, except for the first two digits. The first two digits represent the year." Ends in just over two days.. Thanks, Jeff   Brentm Username: Brentm Registered: 03-2005 Posted on Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 7:04 pm:    There haven't been any fakes of the early JEM's made. Yours is obviously not fake. So don't worry about that... I'm sure plenty of snipers are locked and loaded, and ready to pull the trigger. It's a nice guitar, and I'm sure it will go for market value.   Mrblanche Username: Mrblanche Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 10:50 am:    Looking back at the listing, I see a couple of problems. 1. You don't accept PayPal, but instead want a money order. No way would I send you that much money without some way to recover it. 2. You're playing cagey with the serial number, for some reason. That would make me nervous, even though others here say it's no big deal. These may be perfectly innocent, but those of us who have burned once consider those "danger signs."   Brentm Username: Brentm Registered: 03-2005 Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 2:46 pm:    Funny how times change. Back in the older days of eBay (3-4 years ago), money order was really the only way to go. I used to accept personal checks too, never had any problems. Now I don't accept any form of payment besides Paypal, after being burned a few times.. I do agree with Mrblanche on the serial number. I'd be a bit nervous of receiving 'warm' gear, based on the fact that you are not disclosing the serial number. Anyway, 8 hours until the auction closes.   Dave_g Username: Dave_g Registered: 01-2002 Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 4:17 pm:    Guys....If you think that Paypal is the way to be "safe" on Ebay, your mistaken ! They will only cover you for loss up to $200-AND they deduct $25 for the priviledge !   Brentm Username: Brentm Registered: 03-2005 Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 6:10 pm:    I think it's up to $1,000 now.   Smakutus Username: Smakutus Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 7:55 pm:    Hi guys, I don't accept Paypal because I don't trust them to do the right thing for me, only what's easiest for them. And if there's a chance it would cost me money I don't want to have anything to do with them. To do a deal online or on Ebay I want the cash in my hands before I ship anything outt.. So I answer all e-mails as soon as possible. If anyone wants to call me about this guitar e-mail me and I'll send my phone number to you. I'll be glad to answer any questions "in person". And I figure after you check my feedback and see plenty of fast shippings, good packing, and quick payments and you want my item bad enough you'll send a postal MO and then get a guitar, drum, or whatever, shipped to you as fast as possible. If not, somebody else will buy it. As for the serial number.. This guitar was bought in a pawn shop in my town. As with any pawn shop guitar, how it got there I have no idea. But if someone sees this guitar and thinks it's theirs, they'll need to tell me the serial number so I know they're on the up and up. If they have it right I would do the right thing. If they don't have it, I wouldn't worry about it. I have a friend that owns a online guitar shop and he never gives a full serial number out. So I take his advice. Thanks, Jeff   Brentm Username: Brentm Registered: 03-2005 Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 - 9:41 pm:    Pawn shops, legally, have an obligation to submit serial numbers and descriptions of items 'pawned'. So you should be fairly safe if normal operating procedures were followed. At any rate, someone spending over $1,000 on any item should be entitled to the serial number of the merchandise before purchase. Just my humble opinion. Take it or leave it. FWIW - It is very difficult to get a 'lookup' from any authority without the merchandise 'in-hand'. I tried this on a cracked neck JEM I'd purchased earlier last year. -Brent   Mrblanche Username: Mrblanche Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 6:22 am:    I got shafted by a "platinum seller" a couple of weeks ago when he insisted on a money order to ship to any address other than my PayPal confirmed address. Never again.   Smakutus Username: Smakutus Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - 8:12 am:    Why didn't you use Paypal and have the seller ship it to your Paypal confirmed address? Thanks, Jeff   Mrblanche Username: Mrblanche Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 11:58 am:    Because it was a gift for a niece. So, I sent a money order as they requested, with a cover letter confirming our conversation and giving specific instructions. They ignored e-mails and the letter and sent it to my normal shipping address, and I paid more than the instrument cost to get it shipped overnight. And it got broken in the shipping, somewhere. GreatTunes, Twin Falls, ID. But if you talk to them on the phone, they have a real NJ attitude.   Mrblanche Username: Mrblanche Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Saturday, March 04, 2006 - 1:34 pm:    Oh, did I mention they filed a "non-payment" dispute 2 days after they had received the payment?   Smakutus Username: Smakutus Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Saturday, March 04, 2006 - 2:11 pm:    They were dicks.. Sorry to hear about this but most people on Ebay are not dicks. How much are you talking about and what was it? Jeff   Mrblanche Username: Mrblanche Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Saturday, March 04, 2006 - 9:42 pm:    It was a student viola, about $65. Not a lot of money, and not a valuable instrument, but still annoying.   Smakutus Username: Smakutus Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 6:40 am:    "The guitar came in today. I love it. Thanks." Just wanted you guys to know that I'm not a rip off.. Thanks, Jeff   Johns Username: Johns Registered: 02-2001 Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 9:20 am:    Jeff: Glad to hear that your deal went well and you got a buyer that was willing to work along with your payment requirements. I never felt that you were a "rip-off" artist. But you did get to hear just how leery buyers feel about doing business this way. But that's your choice and nobody should criticize you for the way you want to carry on your affairs. I know that I learned some new things following this conversation. It hasn't taken long for ebay to become a marketplace filled with suspicious buyers and sellers. That's the shame. I fear that if ebay doesn't figure out how to police it's patron's, it will probably collapse. The problem with releasing serial numbers is a tricky one. With Ibanez, only the first few digits are necessary to identify the year and factory of manufacture. But that's not true of all brands. Also, knowing the complete serial number has helped us identify many counterfeit guitars, mainly coming from China. Now these thieves are withholding any details of the guitars to evade detection. If anyone claimed one of my guitars was stolen from them, they'd have to come up with a lot more proof than a serial number before I'd concede they were right! This reminds me that every guitar should be fully documented, receipts, ebay listing and confirmations, mailing labels (with return address) and complete set of detailed photos. This information should be compiled for insurance purposes, too.   Brentm Username: Brentm Registered: 03-2005 Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 10:36 am:    Jeff: I'll echo John's statments. No one thought you were a scammer, and if I were in the market for that guitar, I would have probably bid on it. I know I've found from my own personal experience that accepting more forms of payment widens your audience. Some people just don't have the dough and want to use a Visa, or some folks want that "Fraud Protection" feeling they get when they use their Amex. John: That's good advice on documenting used purchases. To add to that, if someone had a claim on a guitar that was stolen, it should be documented in a police report (along with the documentation proving a legit purchase). Just to prove a point, I double-dog dare anyone (yeah, that's right, a double dog dare!) here to call an authority and ask them to look up a serial number in the database on a potential purchase. The closest I got to a lookup was an officer that said that I'd have to bring the merchandise down to the station for a lookup. And that's hard to do if you haven't bought it yet.   Smakutus Username: Smakutus Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 5:31 pm:    If someone came to me with the serial number, I would have to listen to them but I'd also have to see a police report on it before I'd do anything. And I don't think Ebay is filled with con artist. I think it's filled with mostly good people. Whatever reason you use to not deal with a seller is a good one. I wouldn't have a problem sending a postal MO to anyone I have dealt with in the past, (Accept that one •••••••!) but like my buyer I'd send it so they had to sign for it. Then I'd have proof that they got it from me. Thanks guys, Jeff   Smakutus Username: Smakutus Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 5:32 pm:    Except, not accept! Where's the edit button here? Jeff   Johns Username: Johns Registered: 02-2001 Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 6:57 pm:    Jeff: I guess I'm getting jaded about ebay. I just helped a friend keep from getting stung for $1300.00 by a "second chance" scam on a GB20. This also happened to me, so I had some experience and warned my buddy off just time. It looks like another legitimate ebay account was hijacked to send out the ebay notices.   Smakutus Username: Smakutus Registered: 01-2006 Posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 - 7:19 pm:    A friend of mine had a 335 up that he was selling for his dad.. I placed a couple of bids on it, but it ended up going for wayy more than I would have paid. Anyways.. I'm talking to my friend about it and the buyer paid him fast and everything was going good when I get a second chance offer for his guitar with the "seller" telling me that the buyer couldn't pay for it and that I could get it for my bid etc etc.. I replied that the seller tells me he's already been paid and you are a scammer. Jeff

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